There are checks and balances in place for secure mail-in voting, Carson City Clerk's Office assures
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Tue, 06/02/2020 - 12:32pm
Carson City is currently experiencing its largest use to date of mail-in voting thanks to COVID-19, and some people are concerned over the potentiality for voter fraud.
However, according to Miguel Camacho, Chief Deputy Clerk of the Carson City Clerk’s Office, there have always been checks and balances in place to maintain a fair election for all Nevada residents.
Ballots are being returned by voters in sealed envelopes with signatures on the outside of the envelope. This is because the signatures on the envelopes must be verified first before a ballot can be accepted. The ballots themselves by law cannot be opened and counted until four days before the election.
“Any ballot that comes in gets verified by two to three staff members,” said Camacho. “Signatures are then verified with the current voter registration. People are only allowed to turn in ballots for people who are related to them, and people must sign an affidavit giving permission for someone to submit their ballot for them.”
Any voter that has a signature mismatch will be sent a letter asking for them to fill out an affirmation or come into the office to verify their information, said Camacho.
Each envelope has a specific barcode that is printed by the voter registration software, which is auto generated and specific to each registered voter.
“We’re also doing a daily audit to make sure that we’re accepting the number of ballots we should be,” said Camacho.
Mail in ballots are not new for Nevada or Carson City. According to Camacho, there are normally 2,000 - 3,000 mail in ballots each election in Carson City, and this year due to COVID-19 that number is so far just over 8,200.
“We have always had checks and balances in place to make sure the mail-in ballots are not compromised,” said Camacho.
Each signature is verified by two to three members of Clerk staff, which is a non-partisan office by design. There are no volunteers authenticating signatures, but instead they are full-time paid city staff members.
So far, they have received no complaints of ballots being tampered with or taken. If someone tells the Clerk’s Office they haven’t received a ballot, it’s generally because the voter does not have updated voter information in the system, and they can request a new ballot. The old ballot is then discarded from the system and would not be accepted if it were turned in on a later date.
When the ballot is verified, the clerk’s office tracks the “life” of the ballot, meaning when it was turned in, who verified it, where it is stored, and eventually how it was processed. This, Camacho says, ensures that ballots do not get misplaced or tampered with.
At this time, the Carson City Clerk’s Office has had no complaints of voter fraud.
All mail-in ballots should have been delivered to voters by May 16. If you still have not received your ballot please contact the Carson City Clerk’s Office immediately at 775 887 2087.
Your ballot must be mailed and postmarked by Election Day, June 9.
In-person voting will still be taking place on Election Day at the Carson City court house, but due to social distancing requirements delays are anticipated if there is a large turn out of in-person voting.
For more information, you can visit the elections department here or view the "Mail It In, Nevada" instructional video below.
